Movie Review: Let's Be Cops: Funny but doesn't live up to it's great potential

Two struggling pals dress as police officers for a costume party and become neighborhood sensations. But when these newly-minted "heroes" get tangled in a real life web of mobsters and dirty detectives, they must put their fake badges on the line.

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Let's Be Cops

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Let’s Be Cops is a wayward, humorous happenstance that utilizes one of the more unconventional approaches to the often used buddy cop genre. It’s an amusing intersection of a comedy and a crime drama and a jocular embellishment of the genre that pokes fun at a number of classic “cop” scenarios. The movie stars Jake Johnson (Neighbors), Damon Wayans, Jr. (The Other Guys), Rob Riggle (22 Jump Street), Nina Dobrev (The Roommate), James D’Arcy (Cloud Atlas), Keegan-Michael Key (Bucky Larson: Born To Be a Star), and Andy Garcia (Rio 2). This creative exhibition attempts to add itself to the list of modern buddy cop films with one of the more creative takes on the genre. The film starts off with a bang but the comedy quickly begins to dissipate as the plot of the story starts to take shape. It hyper focuses on trying to embed the theme of friendship and maturation too much that it offsets much of the comedy and waste far too much of the film. The first 35 minutes are hysterical despite the fact that most of that portion of the movie is what was advertised in the trailers. Within the first half hour, Let’s Be Cops has some of the best comedy of the year. This sets the tone and gives the audience exactly what we came for. Most of the comedy is crude and laced with vulgarities, obscenities, and feverish number of sexually based jokes. However, it makes great usage of the ones that are embedded into it. Many of the film’s best parts are when it decides to focus on the slapstick nature that utilizes the obscenities. The film would have been hilarious if it would have emphasized more on those aspects. Consequently, the comedy severely falls off after that. The film’s creators focused too much on trying to be sure that the film’s themes of friendship and responsibility are known that it deviated too far from what made the film enjoyable. It forces a change from the light-hearted/slapstick nature of the film that really is the best part of the movie. All in all, there are some really good themes that are rooted within this comedic calamity. Let’s Be Cops really shows the true value of friendship as the two would be cops learn to truly appreciate one another.The cast of Let’s Be Cops is led by Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans, Jr. make a good comedic tandem. The two play very well of one another. They have completely contrasting styles but fit well on screen together. Rob Riggle makes the most of his limited screen time as Officer Seagars. He continues to add to his list of growing great roles with another great supporting comedic role.The biggest flaw with Let’s Be Cops is that it doesn’t stay true to what it’s billed as. Let’s Be Cops is advertised as a more of a slapstick comedic movie and the film tends to stray away from that. The makers of the movie lost sight of that aspect while embedding the plot. Let’s Be Cops is at its best when it just makes fun out of the duo just pretending to be policeman and the haphazard chaos that stems from it. Those are the true comedic gems of this. Maybe they should do a sequel or a reality series off of the concept because it had great potential that was never truly realized. Let’s Be Cops still manages some good level of entertainment but it’s painful to think of what it could have been.

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Da’Mon Guy is a talented writer and artist. He’s a graduate of Coppin State University and has written on a number of publications including The Baltimore Afro, Move, Raise Up, and Westside News. He is a passionate, avid, life long lover of film. His DVD collection houses over 3,000 and he often boasts about his movie knowledge. Check out his blog at www.movievantagepoint.blogspot.com. Email him at TheGame111073@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @TheGame111073.

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